Master sommelier leaves The Ranch

One of Orange County's most critically acclaimed restaurants, The Ranch, is saying goodbye to its key wine guru.

Michael Jordan, the restaurant's highly regarded master sommelier, has resigned. The Ranch Restaurant and Saloon in Anaheim said he left his position as vice president of beverage last week.

Reached over the Labor Day weekend, Jordan said he resigned “to embrace a fabulous opportunity with Jackson Family Fine Wines” in Sonoma County, best known for its Kendall-Jackson line.

“I am delighted and honored to work with the Jackson Family to help grow their business and further the vision and legacy of Jess Jackson, a man whom I have held great respect for over many years,” Jordan said. “I will be working with their entire portfolio including many amazing, artisan handcrafted wines from top sites in the U.S., Europe and the Southern Hemisphere. Truly these are some of the greatest wines in the world.”

The Ranch's owner, Andrew Edwards, said he was grateful for the contributions Jordan made to the restaurant, which opened in early 2012. Jordan, who lives in Costa Mesa, had previously worked at the Beachcomber restaurant and Napa Rose.

“His wine knowledge, training and education to the staff and his celebrity has been invaluable; he will continue to be a friend of the Ranch,” Edwards said in a prepared statement.

Jordan will continue to work as a consultant for the Ranch, whose wine cellar holds more than 14,000 bottles. When he started at the Ranch, Jordan was vice president of food and beverage. “His title did change during the course of his tenure here,” the Ranch spokeswoman Melissa Cutter said.

The Ranch Restaurant & Saloon is the brainchild of Edwards, who has a passion for gourmet food, fine wine and two-step dancing. The 20,000-square-foot venue is on the ground floor of Edwards' six-story Extron Electronics office tower on Ball Road. He tapped Jordan and executive chef Michael Rossi, both formerly of Napa Rose in Anaheim, to develop the restaurant's food and menu program.

From the beginning, Jordan was a key ambassador of the Ranch's farm-to-table menu, helping plant heirloom seeds in the restaurant's 2-acre farm in Orange Park Acres. Many of the farm's 500 plants have grown from seeds collected and sown by Jordan, a culinary gardener since the 1970s.

Farm foreman Leo Valencia will work with Rossi to plant fruits and vegetables for the Ranch's seasonally driven menu. The farm, which has expanded to 3 acres, is on land owned by Edwards. Since opening, the Ranch has received rave reviews for its food, wine selection, desserts and service.